Problem with hands

[Barbara Hudson]

Hello all.

This is a very quick portrait which was started a couple of months ago and then abandoned when I got to the hands. I hate hands!

Anyway, I have recently landed a very important commission which unfortunately is likely to include his hands.

As hands are a weakness of mine I picked up this abandoned painting and worked on the hands this morning. Do they look believable? Is there too much oxide colour? Should I give them more detail?

There are rings on the fingers which I will add when dry, and after I have received your comments (if any).

Please ignore the chair, curtain and parts of the dress as they are not finished yet. However, any comments on how to improve it will be gratefully received.

Thank you all.

Barbara

[Mike McCarty]

The hands are not bad. I would make a couple of observations. The hand on our right, the split fingers don't look natural. The middle finger seems to be taking a bend. For this relaxed hand pose it looks a little contrived. The other comment would be that the overall skin tone of the subject is smooth and without the splotches which are apparent on the hands. I think if you just knocked off some of the blotches the hands would be very believable.

About going back and painting the rings after the hand is dry. I find that when you do this the rings will have a pasted on look. I think it's better to incorporate them in when laying in the flesh tone.

[Barbara Hudson]

Thank you Mike.

The speedy response in this forum is wonderful.

I agree with you about the blotchy skin tones and I am going straight to my studio now to correct it.

I thought that the 'bent' finger looked strange! It is absolutely correct according to the photo, however, whether correct or not, it still looks funny and I will correct that one too along with placing the rings on. Incidentally, I left the rings out with a strong feeling that I would have to blend the hands more.

Thanks again Mike.

Barbara